Multimodal ethylene-alpha-olefin elastomers and process for making

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a multimodal polymer composition comprising 45 to 75 wt % of a first polymer fraction, 25 to 55 wt % of a second polymer fraction, and from 10-50 phr of an extender oil. The multimodal polymer composition has an overall Mooney viscosity of less than 90 ML(1+4@125° C.), and each polymer fraction comprises an ethylene, C3-C10 alpha-olefin, non-conjugated diene polymer, wherein the first polymer fraction has a Mooney viscosity of greater than or equal to about 150 ML(1+4@125° C.), the second polymer fraction has a Mooney viscosity from about 20 to about 120 ML(1+4@125° C.). A process for making the multimodal polymer composition comprising a process utilizing two or more reactors in series is also disclosed.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION[0001]This application claims the benefit of Provisional Application No. 60 / 834,694 filed Aug. 1, 2006, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference in its entirety.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]Vibration damping devices are used to absorb vibrational energy in machines of nearly every description and use. Unless a damping device is used, vibrational energy is directly transmitted to support and surrounding structures of the machine, which can be disadvantageous. To be useful, a damping device is required to maintain high resiliency and other performance characteristics under a wide range of temperature and other environmental conditions, for a relatively long period of time.[0003]Examples of vibration damping devices include formed shapes, mountings, harnesses, rings, bushings, and belts used to isolate sources of vibration. Natural rubber is often used in vibrational damping applications because it provides high resiliency and tear ...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

Unless a damping device is used, vibrational energy is directly transmitted to support and surrounding structures of the machine, which can be disadvantageous.

However, natural rubber does not last long under conditions of extreme heat (i.e., >120° C.) or under ozone concentrations as found in many automotive applications.

This inherent characteristic of EPDM results in difficulties related to the processability of these polymers.

The presence of extender oil may, however, render oil extended EPDM difficult to mix and compound in some applications.

While extender oils improve processability during manufacturing, elastomers extended with oil are limited in compounding latitude.

The amount or the type of extender oil may be undesirable in the compound recipe, and thus may restrict further compounding options for the material.

Additionally, extender oils consume valuable plant throughput capacity.

Metallocene-based processes thus do not allow for the introduction of extender oil into the final reaction product until after the solvent has been removed by flash evaporation.

Metallocene-based processes may be limited to a polymer product having an overall Mooney viscosity of less than about 90 ML (1+4@120° C.) in the absence of extender oil, due to the handling characteristics of such polymers including the difficulties of further processing polymers having a Mooney viscosity above about 90 ML (1+4@120° C.).

However, polymer compositions having a Mooney viscosity of less than or equal to about 90 ML (1+4@120° C.) in the absence of extender oil have inferior properties, in particular flex fatigue of a cured compound.

However, upon curing, the compositions appear to be deficient in flex fatigue resistance, which is a measure of the ability of the material to perform in dynamic applications.

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